Grain-drier



(No Model.) s Sheets-Sheet 1. I. G. HOOPER.

GRAIN DRIER. No. 522,985. Patented July 17,1894.

'WITNESSES: V mvENTd v r n G6. fie 0]; e1;

. BY ATT-Y' (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' I. G. HOOPER.

GRAIN DRIER.

No. 522,985. Patented July 17, 1894.

WITNESSES: NVENTOH:

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(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3. HOOPBR. GRAIN DRIER.

Patented July 17, 1894.

INVENTUR.

Irv'iad/ Q.H,'O 0} e27 S E S S E N F W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IRVIN G. HOOPER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

GRAIN-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 522,985, dated July 17,1894:. Application filed May 1a, 1893. Serial No. 474,058. (NomodeL) Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IRVIN G. HOOPER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New J ersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Driers; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference belng hadto the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification. v

The primary object of this invention is to provide a drying tower, whichmeets all the conditions of successfully and economically drying grain,or the like, by means of heated air. These conditions, are, first, thatthe current of air shall be brought into intimate and uniform contactwith the material to be treated, and further, that all the material tobe dried shall be uniformly subjected to the treating current of air,and thereby be equally dried. The most efficient construction of adrying chamber is a vertical tower, as therein, a rising current of airwill difiuse itself uniformly throughout the area and its ascent,

which will be materially assisted by the difference of gravity of theheated column and the external air, will virtually hold the fineparticles of material to be dried in suspension, whereby the current ofhot air is brought into more intimate contact with the material to bedried.

The several ends of my invention are intended to secure the successfuland economical drying of grain, or the like, and to meet these ends, Ihave constructed the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which similar letters of reference are employed to indicate likeparts in each of the views, and in which views are illustrated thevarious mechanical devices employed to accomplish the various objectsabove specified.

In said drawings, Figure'l is a front elevation of my novel form ofgrain drying tower.

Fig. 2 is avertical section of the same, showtaken on line 00 in saidFig. 2. Fig. kis a vertical section of the lower portion of the tower,on a larger scale, and Fig. 5 is a like view of the upper portion of thetower, clearly illustrating an arrangement of pivoted or hinged doors,which open automatically in the case of an explosion of the grain dustin the tower.

The mechanism shown in the various views of the drawings is adapted toperform the various functions set forth herein, and consists of asuitable tower A, preferably constructed from boiler iron, and providedat intervals with doors a, a a", due. Said tower, as will beseen fromFig. 1, may be provided with balconies b and a connecting ladder b.

The construction of the tower is preferably as shown in Fig. 2,consisting essentially of an outer stack or shell a and an inner stackor shell 0, which stacks are suitably connected by means of stay-bolts,or in any other well-known manner, thereby providing for an air-tightspace between the inner and outer stacks, for the purpose of insulationto prevent the radiation of the heat from the inner stack through theouter shell or stack. Said inner stack 0, as will be seen from said Fig.2, may be provided with any suitable form of deflectors, as c, toprevent any undue escape of hot air from the stack, and also, to preventthe finer particles of the material tobe dried, from being blown out ofthe top of the tower. Projecting from the inner surface of said stack a,may be arranged suitable studs or small pipes 0 These studs or pipes arearranged to alternate in position with those next above and below them,so that the material discharged at or nearthe top of the stack, as itmoves downwardto the bottom of the stack, will be separated, and wherebythe particles, are uniformly subjected to the treating current andthereby equally dried.

At or near the bottom of the drying tower and leading into and entirelythrough the two stacks or shells at and c, is a heat conveying pipe orflue d. i

In order to illustrate one use of my drying tower, I have represented inconnection with the same, as will be seen from Fig. 2, a mash tun E fromwhich extends the grain conveying tube 6, which passes through theshells or stacks a and c, and is provided with the usual form ofconveyor or worm e. Directly beneath the ueer e of the, tube 6, andwithin the stack 0,1 have arranged a suitable hopper f, which, as willbe seen from the section in Fig. 4, is provided with an open bottom, inwhich are arranged the pivoted louvers or slats f, which may be openedor closed by means of a suitable lever, to retain the grain in saidhopper or to permit the same to be. dropped down into a seco'rrdhopperg. Passing through said hoppers f and g, is a sort of U-shaped casing h,in the bottom portion of which is an adjustable bearing h, in whichrotates a shaft k provided with a suitable pulley, not shown in thedrawings. Passing over said pulley in said casing h and over a pulley jin the upper portion ,of the stack 0 isa conveyer belti provided withsuitable buckets t. Said belt and its buckets pass through the legs kand h of said casing h, as will be evident from Figs. 2 and 4:. A duct gprovided with a gate or valve 9 leads from the bottom of the hopper ginto the side of said. casing 72., whereby the wet or moist grain can bepassed from the hopper 9 into the buckets 71 to be conveyed to the topof the tower and then dropped from saidbuckets t" to be again caught inthe hopper f. A second duct g provided with a gate or valve 9 leads intoa pipe 70 provided with a conveyer or worm is for conducting the driedgrain or other material to some point outside of the tower.

As will be seen from Fig. 5, in the top of said inner stack 0,1 havesecured suitable brackets or supports Z which carry a suitabledeflecting hood Z constructed to retain the hot air in the stack, butstill, permitting the escape of the air therefrom, as will be evidentfrom an inspection of said figure. The top of said stack cis providedwith suitable openings 0 while in the outer stack or shell on, are

with outwardly swinging doors a arranged between the braces orstiffening bars a as will be clearly seen from Figs. 1 and 5. Said doorsare preferably hinged at the top, whereby, when an explosion of thegrain dust occurs, said doors will swing outwardly and will close bytheir own weight, as will be clearly understood. This arrangement of thedoors, which are of the proper weight to keep them closed under thenormal pressure of the air in the-stack, will, by their automaticopening, when an explosion of grain dust occurs, prevent the blowing-ofiof the hood Z.

The operation of the several mechanisms herein shown for drying grain orother. like material, is as follows:The moist or wet grain is forcedfrom the opening 6 in the pipe e, by means of the conveyer e therein,into the hopper f, which, when sufficiently filled is emptied into thehopper g by opening the louvers f The gate g in the duct 9 being closed,and the gate 9 in the duct g being open, the moist or wet grain passesdown into the side of the casing hfrom which the buckets ti on the belt71 convey the grain to the top of the stack, whereupon the returningbuckets are emptied of their contents, thegrainpassing down and beingscattered by the arrangement of the studs 0 and finally they are againcaught in the hopper f in which they are retained until the lower hopperg, containing the moist orwet grain, has been emptied. When the lowerhopperhas been emptied, the louvers in the upper hopperfjare opened andthe grain once more passes into the hopper g, from which the materialcan be made to pass once more through the chute g to be conveyed to thetop of the tower, or, if the material has been sufficientlydrled, saidgate or valve 9 in the chute g may be closed and the grain allowed topass through the duct 9 and the now opengate g thereirninto the conveyer7a to be stored away for further use.

In some instances, 1 may allow the grain, after it has fallen from thetop of the tower, to remain in thehopperf, where it can besufficientlybaked by the heat in the stack, as will be clearly evident.

It will be seen that by my arrangement of parts and the generalconstruction-of the drying tower, the material isbrought to the top ofthe tower and then the, material moves by gravity slowly down thevertical chamber, striking the studs, which separate the grain, wherebyall the 'material is uniformly subjected to the heated air and equallydried. Furthermore, owing to the upward flow of the hot air in thetower, the downward progress of the grain or other material to be driedis impeded, the particles being virtually held in suspension, wherebythe current of air is brought into intimate and uniform contact with thematerial to be treated,,and none of the material can' escape withoutbeing thoroughly dried. correspondingly arranged openings provided Thedrying tower herein set forth is especially adapted for the drying ofgrain, for the feeding of cattle, but may be used for the drying ofbark, leaves, malt, or any other material.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a dryingtower, the combination, with the tower proper, of a pair of hoppers ator near the bottom of the tower, a conveyer chute at one side forconveying the material into the upper hopper, a heat duct leading intosaid tower, a bucket conveyer for conducting the material to'be dried tothe top of said tower, and a conveyor tube at the bottom of said towerconnected and communicating with the lower of said hoppers, all arrangedsubstantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a drying tower, the combination, with the tower proper, of a'pairof hoppers at or near the bottom of the tower, a conveyer chute at oneside for conveying the material into the upper hopper, a heat ductleading into said tower, a bucket conveyer for-conducting the materialto be dried to the top of said:

tower, a conveyer'tube at the bottom of said tower, and deflectors c inthe top of the tower,

and studs 0 arranged to separate the falling material, substantially asand for the purposes set forth.

3. In adrying tower, the combination, with the tower proper, of a pairof hoppers at or near the bottom of the tower, a casing h, a belt orbucket conveyor, a duct g, having a gate 9 therein, connecting the lowerhopper with said casing h, aduct having a gate g, a conveyor chute isconnected with said duct 9 and a conveyor tube 6, all arranged,substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a drying tower,tho combination, with the tower proper, of a pairof hoppers at or near the bottom of the tower, a casing h, a

belt or bucket conveyer, a duct g, having a gate 9 therein, connectingthe lower hopper with said casing h, a duct 9 having a gate g a conveyorchute it connected with said duct g and a conveyor tube e, substantiallyas and for the purposes set forth.

5. The drying tower herein set forth, consisting essentially of an outershell a and an inner shell 0, said shells having correspondinglyarranged openings near the top of the tower, and swinging doors arrangedin the openings in said outer shell a, substantially as and for thepurposes set forth.

6. In a drying tower, of the class herein set forth, hot air deflectorsc in the top of the tower, and studs 0 extending inwardly from the sidesof the tower for separating the descending particles of the material tobe dried,

and means for discharging the material to be dried at or near the top ofthe tower, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

. 7. The herein described drying tower, consisting essentially of anouter shell or stack a and an inner shell or stack a, means forconveying the material to be dried through said stacks into or near thebottom of said inner stack a, a conveyor within said stack 0 fordischarging the material to be dried at or near the top of said stack,and a conveyor chute at or near the bottom of said stack 0 forconducting the dried material from the stack, substantially as and forthe purposes set forth.

8. In a drying tower, of the class herein set forth, the combinationwith the tower proper, a hopper f provided with slats or louvers f inits bottom, a conveyor-chute at one side for conveying the material intothe said hopper, a second hopper gdirectlybelow said first hopper, abucket conveyor for conducting the material to be dried to the top ofsaid tower, a duct for conveying the material from said hopper g intosaid bucket conveyor, and a conveyor tube 70 at the bottom of saidtower, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony thatI claim the invention set forth above I have hereuntoset my hand this 10th day of May, 1893.

IRVIN G. HOOPER.

Witnesses:

FREDK. O. FRAENTZEL, WM. H. CAMFIELD, J r.

